Recollections and Whispers
by Chaos's Prototype
Summary: There are so many moments hidden within the same world, spread out across the years. If only things could be as simple as remembering them


Recollections and Whispers: 1- Another Beginning

**A/N: **This is the first part of the _Don't Worry _outtakes series. I originally planned to not start this until after the main story was complete, but I guess that didn't quite work out. ^^; All of the installments in this series will be set in that AU and will be scenes and stories that didn't make it into the main story.

A lot of the installments will probably have spoilers for the posted chapters of the main story (and possibly the entire story, once it's complete). I'll try to keep spoilers out for unposted chapters. There will be spoiler warnings at the beginning of every part, unless it happens to not have any spoilers at all.

This installment takes place immediately before the beginning of chapter three and is what leads into the first scene of that chapter.

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Dropped down onto castle floors again, Naminé expected to hear the hiss of steam, to see the smoke from broken machinery, and feel the heat radiating from pipes ready to burst. She had seen it so many times, so many ways, but it always started the same way, at least for her.

But this time, there was none of that. The only thing familiar was the castle floor beneath her feet. This time, she could see clearly and even hear...something. Words. There had never been any words she could make out in this dream, not over the roar of everything breaking at once.

She didn't recognize the first voice, or at least couldn't place it, though it sounded vaguely familiar. She crept around the corner, nervous if only because this was different. It shouldn't have been; it had _never _been. Other dreams, yes, but never this one.

Unless it was her dream? Was that even possible?

As her eyes fell on the people speaking, her blood ran cold. Xehanort was there, but Xehanort was always there, the only one she ever saw. But him...This was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here; he wasn't in that memory, she _knew _that.

"Looks like this is it," Braig said, a vicious grin across his face as he readied the gun in his hand. He aimed it at the man's head, finger on the trigger. "It could've been different, you know."

"That it could have," Xehanort agreed from beside him, summoning a corridor of darkness behind the man. "Yet somehow, I do not regret this. Farewell, ex-master."

In the instant before Ansem disappeared into the Realm of Darkness, the people suddenly changed, flashing forward in time to the people she knew. Xehanort appeared to be gone, but she could still feel his darkness, almost hear his voice.

"No, that prison was far too escapable for you," Ienzo mused, a spell book Naminé hadn't seen in such a long, long time in his hand, the pages flipping rapidly until they finally stopped on a page she couldn't make out. "We can't have that."

As soon as he said the spell's name, darkness bursting forth from his extended hand, Naminé looked away. She heard Ansem's shout, the roar of the black enveloping him, felt the expanding darkness dragging her down even within the dreamworld. W-what...What was happeni-

The lexicon crashed to the floor and she was hurled back into reality.

For several long moments, shock kept the full impact of it from breaking on her. She couldn't move, or think, or see anything other than the last moments of the dream. So incredibly wrong. Then it crashed.

She knew, remembered, all of the terrible things they had all done. As long as she remembered her own name, those moments stayed with her. What she had just seen, though...It wasn't Zexion. It was the same man lying beside her. She had long been able to tell the difference.

"Ienzo?" she tried to whisper, her voice choked. He didn't reply, just continuing to stare up at the ceiling. More forever-long seconds later, she shook him lightly. Just a dream, just a dream, _not real_.

When she tried again, he pushed her away, shoving himself up before he even said a word to her. Heading toward the door, had to be leaving, leaving her alone after...

"What happened?" It was so hard to speak.

He stopped cold in the doorway, muttering, not even looking back at her, "I have to go. I can't-" He was talking so fast, almost too quiet for her to hear. "I can't stay. I have to-" And he was gone, before she could even hear him finish. The door slammed shut before she had a chance to follow him, closing a barrier.

All alone...

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**A/N: **I bet chapter three makes a lot more sense now, doesn't it? I hope. orz


End file.
